The Trials of Raising a Child
by Shirodenkou
Summary: He was scared and alone, but that all changed when he met someone like him. Loki made all the fear and pain go away, and made him feel like he belonged. Loki was like a father to him, and he never wanted to leave him, even when Loki goes on a war path to enslave all of mankind. Loki was just doing it for him, right?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. Okay, well the OC is mine, but that's it. The Avengers do not belong to me.**

**Chapter 1**

The first thing that he remembered was the feeling of being cold. Darkness surrounded him and he couldn't see a thing. It was quiet; the only audible sound was the frantic beating of his heart. He tried to move, to escape, but he found out that his body wouldn't budge. The beating of his heart came quicker and harder as panic set in. And then he couldn't remember what happened. There was a gap in his memory that he could not explain and on some level, that frightened him.

But the next thing he remembered was being unnaturally calm and the darkness was gone. He saw faces in front of him. He saw the men's mouths moving, but all he could hear was the soft lull of his heart and the quiet noise of his breathing. He tried to move his hand and found that he could this time, but the movement was sluggish and he felt like his hand was meeting some unseen resistance. Carefully, he reached his hand out toward the man that was standing in front of him. But before his hand could make contact with the man's face, the hand touched a smooth, cool surface. He laid his hand on the glass surface and wondered what was going on. All movement outside his glass container ceased at his action. The man in front of him extended his arm and rested his hand against the glass opposite of where the other was. The man's hand was quite larger than his own. The unnatural calm started to leave him and his breathing came quicker. The man in front of him took his hand off the glass and turned his attention toward another man. The words that the man said went unheard to him as his world returned to darkness.

When he awoke next, it was due to pain. The pain wasn't centered in one location of his body, but seemed to course through his veins. It burned and made his entire body feel like it was on fire. His eyes stung as tears welded up in the corner of his eyes, but they refused to fall due to the clear gel that surrounded his body. Outside of his glass tube, all the men were at machines and talking to each other. He tried to call out to them, to ask for help, but his cries went unheard as the men continued to work.

All of a sudden the scene before him changed. The calm atmosphere the surrounded the men in front of him disappeared and panic arose. Red lights flashed and the men were yelling at each other. All the men before him were running around and collecting papers. There was an explosion and the door to the room was blown off its hinges. Men with guns stormed the room. A red-headed man came over to where he was and went to the machine that was next to him. The man pushed a few buttons and the pain he was feeling increased. His veins felt like they were on fire and he let out a scream that went unheard to everyone else. His vision started to blur and the darkness was returning. But before the darkness could take him, a man with black sunglasses and a quiver of arrows strapped to his back appeared in front of him. The last thing that he remembered was the man taking one look at him before turning and calling to someone. And then his world turned black.

xXx

For Clint Barton, the day started out like any other. He woke up, took a shower, ate breakfast, and went down to the shooting range to work on his archery. The only thing that was slightly amiss was his missing companion, Natasha. The red-head was currently away on an assignment and wouldn't be back for a while, which left Clint's days without her more mundane than usual. It also meant that he spent most of his time at the range with his bow and a few practice targets. Which Phil wasn't happy about due to the amount of strain Clint put on his body while training, but Clint could care less. Archery was the only thing that could put his mind completely at ease.

But thankfully for Clint, his tedious day was put on hold when Phil walked in through the door to the shooting range and informed Clint that he had been assigned to a mission.

"Mission?" Clint questioned. "The one Nat's on?" It wasn't unusual for either him or Natasha to be assigned to a mission that the other was all ready on. They were a great team, and S.H.I.E.L.D knew it.

"Not that one," Phil replied. "You've been assigned to one a little bit closer to home. Agent Romanoff will be joining you."

"What could be so important that Nat has to be pulled off her assignment and put on this one?" The archer asked.

"S.H.I.E.L.D recently stumbled across a scientist by the name of Dr. Thomas Fitzgerald-"

"And you guys want him to come and work for S.H.I.E.L.D," Clint interrupted. Agents were sent out to recruit people all the time. But that didn't explain why they were sending both him and Natasha though.

"That's not what we're sending you in for," Phil continued after seeing the other's confused look. "We've received news that Fitzgerald has been doing research on magic."

"Magic? Like waving a magic wand and pulling a rabbit out of a hat?"

"Not quite like that," Phil laughed a bit, but became serious again. "The reason why we're sending you and Agent Romanoff in is because he's doing human testing."

xXx

Alarms blaring, red lights flashing, guns being fired, it was those things that made Clint feel alive. With adrenaline pumping through his system, Clint drew an arrow from the quiver strapped to his back and fired it at one of the men who was shooting at him. All the men that were wearing white lab coats had disappeared behind a steel door when S.H.I.E.L.D arrived. And in their place, men wielding guns appeared. He hit a button on his bow and all the arrows in his quiver rotated. Grabbing the arrow that he wanted, Clint launched it at the steel door. He only had a moment to smirk before the door was blasted open. Glancing over to Natasha, he noticed that all the gunmen had been taken out by her and the other agents.

Motioning Natasha and the other agents forward, they stormed the back room that was previously hidden behind the steel door. Clint drew an arrow and followed Natasha, ready to fire incase anything went wrong. Once inside the room, he quickly glanced around the room to gage the situation. Natasha and the other agents were taking some men wearing lab coats into custody, but none of the men were the doctor they were assigned to get. Fitzgerald was nowhere to be seen and that made Clint a little concerned.

His eyes were suddenly drawn to his right when he caught a flash of red. The red-headed doctor they were looking for was standing at a machine. Clint was shocked by what he saw next to man. There was a clear, cylindrical tube beside the man. But it wasn't the tube that shocked the man; it was what was inside the tube. From what Clint understood, the test subject was supposed to be an adult, but this was defiantly not an adult. He knew what he was seeing but he couldn't believe it. Who would do human testing on a child? It was just sick.

"Step away from the machine, Fitzgerald!" Clint called, taking aim with his arrow. When the doctor failed to comply, Clint released his arrow. The arrow struck the doctor in the right shoulder and the man fell to the ground.

Clint drew another arrow, and approached the fallen man. Once he knew for sure that the doctor wasn't a threat, he put the arrow back into his quiver. He looked over to the child and could clearly see that he was in pain. He walked over to the tank, so that he was directly in front of the kid. He wanted to get a better look at the child.

"Nat, we have a problem," Clint called over his shoulder. Clint started to panic as the child closed his eyes. They really did have a problem.

**Thanks for reading, reviews are always welcomed.**

**~Shiro**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Not mine. The Avengers do not belong to me. The OC, however, is mine.**

**Chapter 2:**

"Says his name's Matthew," a woman's voice penetrated his hears.

"Hey, Nat, I think he's coming to," a man's voice spoke this time. His voice sounded like it was closer than the female's.

The boy, Matthew, slowly opened his eyes, blinking off the bright lights that assaulted him. The first thing he saw was the man from earlier and a red-headed woman. Both were looming over him as he laid on the cool, metal floor of the laboratory. A flash of fear and pain went through him as he stared up at the adults. The red-headed woman helped him sit up and propped him up against a metal support beam.

He watched as the woman pulled the man away from them and started to speak with him. Disinterested in their conversation, Matthew looked around the room. To his left, he saw the remainders of what use to be his glass tube. All that was left was the base and some glass scattered around it on the floor. There was a thin layer of the gel-like fluid that use to encase him on the floor. He reached his hand out and scooped up some of the substance. It felt slimy as some of it fell through his fingers. He dropped the rest of it on the ground as his body shivered due to the cold and pain that still coursed through him slightly.

Clint looked over to the child as he addressed Natasha, "We need to get some clothes for him." He felt sorry for the kid. He just looked so lost sitting there naked and shivering. He never saw something so pitiful before.

"I already sent an agent to get some," she replied easily. She too was looking at Matthew, but then shifted her gaze to the folder that was currently in her hands. "Can you believe that he's only six?"

"I believe it. Just look at him, he's so tiny," Clint answered, his gaze never faltering from the boy. Thankfully, an agent walked into the room and handed Natasha a bag that had children's clothing in it. He was afraid that if they didn't get the kid dressed soon he was going to get sick.

Natasha walked over to Matthew and dropped down to his level. The kid watched her every step warily, as if afraid of her. "Hey, Matt, let's get you dressed," Nat said in a gentle tone. She could clearly see that the kid was afraid of her. When she didn't get a response from the child in front of her, Natasha put the bag containing clothes on the ground and pulled out an article of clothing.

Once the kid was dressed, Natasha stood up and gave Matthew a small smile. "Well, don't you look handsome." Clint had to agree with her, Matt did look kind of cute in his faded blue jeans and green T-shirt that matched his eyes. There was something wrong with this picture though.

"Nat, where are his shoes?" Clint asked. The kid's feet were bare; he didn't even have socks on.

"There weren't any in the bag," she told him. What kind of agent goes out to buy children's clothing and doesn't buy shoes?

Clint sighed and ran a hand through his short hair. Someone still had to inform Fury that they were bringing back a child and not an adult. And he did not want to be that person. "Nat, have Smith call the director." That's what lower agents were for, doing all stuff that he didn't want to do.

All of a sudden, red lights were flashing and the alarm was blaring again. Out of instinct, Clint drew an arrow and Natasha pulled her gun. Even though the agents seemed relaxed, they were always ready in case anything went wrong.

Matthew, on the other hand, wasn't as calm as the S.H.I.E.L.D agents. When the alarm went off, he jumped in fright. His eyes darted over to the adults in the room and when he saw that they had their weapons drawn, he jumped to his feet. He knew that these people had helped him, but he couldn't help but fear them. As far as he knew, no one had ever been kind to him. Everyone had hurt him in the end.

He took a quick glance at the agents and saw that their attention was elsewhere. Matthew took the opportunity to get away while he still could. His bare, little feet slapped the ground quietly as he made his escape. Matthew darted out of the room that acted as his prison and dodged other agents as he made his way out of the building.

xXx

Clint relaxed slightly as he realized that no one was storming into the room. "Who the hell tripped the alarm!" he shouted angrily. He lowered his bow and looked over to Natasha, "We work with idiots."

Natasha just rolled her eyes at his comment. She knew he was right, but she didn't want to say that out loud. She holstered her gun when the alarm stopped and looked over to where the kid was, only to see him missing. "Matthew," she called. "It's okay. You can come out now. No one's going to hurt you."

A few moments passed in silence. "It's all right kid. Nat's right, no one is going to hurt you," Clint tried this time. Matthew still didn't appear though.

"Clint, I think we have another problem," Natasha said.

"Oh I am not telling Fury that lost the kid," Clint replied.

xXx

Matthew ran down the street as fast as his little legs could carry him. He ran through alleyways and down deserted streets before he stopped at a very busy street. There were tall buildings on both sides of the street and people were walking shoulder to shoulder with others. Tons of yellow cabs were stuck in a traffic jam and the noise level was high. Matthew didn't know where to go from here, so he just walked. He walked passed adults on cell phones who didn't give him a second look and wonderful looking store fronts. He didn't know where he was going to go and he didn't know what he was going to do, but he knew for certain that he wasn't going to go back to his once prison.

As the day went on storm clouds filled the sky. The number of people on the street diminished as rain began to fall. It started out as a drizzle but turned into a downpour that soaked his clothes and made his hair stick to his forehead. Matthew wrapped his arms around his body as he tried to combat the cold that gripped his small frame. A shiver ran through his body as he turned down an alley. He huddled under a fire escape that gave him at least a little cover from the rain and settled down for the night.

xXx

After Clint and Natasha debriefed the director on the situation they requested that they be put on the team assigned to find the child.

"I cannot assign you to recover the boy," Fury responded.

"What? Why?" Natasha questioned.

"Barton has been assigned to another mission; A very important one. As for you Miss Romanoff, you have been assigned to a mission in Russia." Fury glanced at both of the agents before him before addressing Natasha, "Miss Romanoff, you are dismissed."

Natasha glanced back at Clint as she left the debriefing room. She wondered what his very important mission would be. It would probably be way more exciting than her mission in Russia. As she walked the halls of S.H.I.E.L.D. she couldn't help but think of Matthew being alone and afraid on the streets of New York.

Back in the briefing room, Fury was looking at Clint in silence. Clint's gaze didn't waver as he looked back at the director.

"Tell me, Barton, have you ever heard of something called the tesseract?" the director questioned.

xXx

Matthew spent a few days in the alley. The rain had let up on his second day, but it was still cold at night. For a while it seemed like his body would never stop shivering, but on his third day alone something happened to him. He was enduring another cold night, when it happened. His body suddenly became warm and his shivering subsided. At first he didn't notice what happened to him, but when the same thing happened the next night he began to wonder.

During his fifth day on the streets of New York, he was starving. He wandered around trying to find something to eat. He came across a man who was selling hotdogs and his stomach growled. Matthew wished that he had some money to buy one. But when the vendor looked away to gave some change to a man, something miraculous happened. One of the hotdogs that was sitting on top of the cart flew into Matthew's awaiting hand. It momentarily shocked him and he didn't know what to do. But hunger won out and he began to eat the hotdog as he walked away. To his six year old mind, there was only one explanation for what just happened. Magic.

xXx

While making his escape from the underground base he felt it. There was a spark of something that went through his entire body. It felt familiar and it was like a part of him was reaching out to whatever caused it. He needed to know what caused this sensation. He wanted to make it his. He had to find it.

xXx

On his seventh day alone, Matthew felt like something was calling out to him. He couldn't explain what it was, but he knew that he had to find it. It felt familiar, like home. He had never felt something like it before and he wanted to find out what it was. He started walking down the sidewalk toward where the feeling was coming from. But as the feeling became more urgent, he started to run. He weaved around people as he tried to get to his destination. He bumped into many people but he just continued. He had to reach the source of the sensation. While he was running, he wasn't completely aware of his surroundings and thus, crashed into someone. The force of the crash knocked him to the ground. The sensation stopped. Matthew looked up at the man that he ran into. The man was dressed in a black suit with a black tie. Around his neck was a green and gold scarf. Matthew's eyes traveled up the man's body and stopped when he was looking directly into the man's eyes. The blue eyes felt like home. At that moment, he knew that this man was like him.

"Hello there. My name is Loki."

**Thanks for reading, sorry if there are any mistakes, I am currently have no Beta...**

**~Shiro**


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